Samuel Pontrelli

Samuel Pontrelli is an assistant professor at KU Leuven's Department of Biology and group leader at the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology. His research focuses on uncovering biochemical mechanisms of microbial carbon sequestration in marine environments, combining high-throughput metabolomics, enzyme assays, and wet-lab experiments. He holds affiliations with both the Faculty of Science and VIB's Center for Microbiology.

Pontrelli's research interests center on microbial carbon capture and metabolism. His lab investigates how marine microbes transform carbon dioxide into stable dissolved organic carbon (DOC) through enzymatic activity and community-level interactions. Key projects include High-throughput metabolomics couples with enzyme assays to evaluate microbial metabolic interactions (2025-2029) and Stability incurred by enzymatic diversification (2025-2030), both as promotor.

• Marine carbon cycling
• Microbial community dynamics
• Enzymology
• Metabolomics
• Biochemical interactions
• Carbon sequestration

His 15 most recent publications (2021-2025) demonstrate expertise in microbial metabolomics, polysaccharide degradation, and DOC stabilization mechanisms. Articles appear in journals like Nature Communications, Science Advances, and PNAS. As of 2025, his lab is newly established at KU Leuven's Arenberg campus.